Tunstead & Sco-Ruston

The following jobs can be carried out in the garden during December and January

January

1. Sow (under cover): Broad Beans, Leeks, Onions, Parsley, Peas , Salad Leaves and spinach

2. Organise your seeds for the coming year – if you arrange them  in order of sowing you will avoid forgetting to sow them and missing the correct time slot.

3. Place seed potatoes in seed trays with their eyes facing up and place in a light but frost free place to allow them to produce chits (shoots)

4. Divide clumps of rhubarb every three or four years, discarding the old inner parts and replanting the younger outer parts – ensure that each section has at least one healthy bud.

December

1. Sow
   • Bare rooted fruit trees and bushes
   • Garlic
   • Hedging
   • Onions
   • Rhubarb
2. Apply a winter wash (available from garden centres) to apple and pear trees to help control pests
3. If your soil tends to lie wet over the winter it is a good idea to lift and store carrots
4. Plan your planting for next year

 

VEGETABLES

Sow: Broad beans, Early peas, Garlic, Onion sets, Rocket, Rhubarb, Salad leaves, Spring cabbage, Winter lettuce

Pick the last of the tomatoes (place unripe fruit on a warm windowsill in the sun to ripen)

Harvest and move indoors any frost tender vegetable such as squashes.  Store them in a cool dry place

 

FLOWERS

Plant sweet peas

Get winter hanging baskets established with pansy or viola’s, ivy or the miniature trees make good greenery infill.

Dig up dahlia’s before the first frosts – cut them down to a 5 or 6 inch stem, and store them upside down in a box filled with sand/dried compost mixture, in a frost-free place ready to re-plant next Spring.  Alternatively, if they are planted very deep to start with they can over winter in situ if well covered with a piece of plastic and a good dollop of mulch over them.  Please be warned – If we get any prolonged frosts this method may not be sufficient to keep your dahlias

All of the early Spring flowering bulbs should be planted, with tulips going in about now

Wallflowers can planted out.

Late glowering chrysanthemums need bringing in – these are best grown in pots which can be moved inside to produce cut flowers for Christmas

Trim and tidy roses, a heel to the stem to ensure tight soil around them will lessen wind damage over winter.

Collect up leaves for the compost heap – except any diseased which are best on the bonfire.

 

 

 

Welcome to the Gardening Club News

Photographs of the club’s visit on 27th June 2014 to the garden of former Tunstead resident Mrs Marris who now lives in Blakeney